What Causes “Eye Floaters”

For those who’ve never experienced this phenomenon, eye floaters are little oddly shaped objects that appear in your vision, often when one looks at bright light such as a blue sky. Their shapes vary greatly, but will often appear as spots, cobwebs, or randomly shaped stringy objects. These are not optical illusions, but rather something your eyes are actually perceiving. There are a few different things that can cause this, but in most cases these eye floaters are caused by pieces of the gel-like vitreous breaking off from the back portion of your eye and then floating about in your eye ball.

The vitreous humor, or often just “vitreous”, is a clear gel that fills the gap between your retina and lens, helping maintain the round shape of your eye in the process. This gel is about 99% water and 1% other elements; the latter of which consists mostly of a network of hyaluronic acid and collagen. Hyaluronic acid ends up retaining water molecules. Over time though, this network breaks down which results in the hyaluronic acid releasing its trapped water molecules. When this happens, it forms a watery core in your vitreous body.

As you age then, pieces of the still gel-like collagen/hyaluronic acid network will break off and float around in this watery center. When light passes through this area, it creates a shadow on your retina. This shadow is actually what you are seeing when you see the eye floaters.

Children and teenagers almost never experience these types of eye floaters as there must first be some deterioration of the gel-like substance in their eye, creating the watery core, for these floaters to appear. However, they do still sometimes experience a certain type of eye floater that often appears more like a crystallized web across their vision. These floaters aren’t found in the vitreous humor like the above floaters. Instead, they are found in the Premacular Bursa area, right on top of the retina. These floaters are microscopic in size and only appear as big as they do because of their proximity to the retina. Unfortunately, their microscopic nature makes them almost impossible to treat in most cases.

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Interestingly, if the eye floaters would just stay still instead of floating around, your brain would automatically tune them out and you’d never consciously see them. Your brain does this all the time with things both in and outside of your eyes. One example of this inside your eye are blood vessels in the eye which obstruct light; because they are fixed in location, relative to the retina, your brain tunes them out completely and you don’t consciously perceive them.

The reason you can see floaters better when looking at, for instance, a bright blue sky, is because your pupils contract to a very small size, thus reducing the aperture, which in turn makes floaters more apparent and focused.

Individual floaters often won’t change much throughout your lifetime, typically retaining their basic shape and size.

The perception of eye floaters is known as myodesopsia.

The reason the floating specs never seem to stay still is because floaters, being suspended in the vitreous humor, move when your eye moves. So as you try to look at them, they will appear to drift with your eye movement.

Eye floaters are examples of entoptic phenomena. Entoptic phenomena are things we see where the source is within the eye itself.

If you ever see a ton of floaters appear out of no where, possibly with some light flashes, you should get to an eye doctor immediately. There is a chance (1 in 7) that your retina is about to detach from the back of your eye. If that happens, you have very little time to get it fixed before it effectively dies and you go blind from that eye.

Floaters can damage the retina by tugging on it, sometimes producing a tear. When a tear happens, vitreous can invade the opening in the tear, which will ultimately widen the gap and in 50% of these cases will result in the retina eventually becoming fully detached if not repaired via surgery.

“Light flashes” not caused by actual light, also known as photopsia, will often occur when the photoreceptors in the retina receive stimulation from being touched or from being torn. This produces an electrical impulse to your brain, which your brain more or less interprets as a light flash. This physical stimulation is often caused when traction is being applied while the vitreous detachment is taking place. The flashes should subside when the vitreous finally detaches.

These flashes will also often temporarily occur when you get a sharp blow to the head. The sudden jarring causes pressure on the retina; this in turn creates an electrical impulse to the brain which the brain interprets as a flash.

Yet another potential cause of these flashes is with migraine headaches, usually caused by a spasm of blood vessels in the brain. In this case, you will experience the flashes in both eyes at the same time, often followed by an extreme headache, though this doesn’t necessarily have to follow with a headache. Basically, if you are experiencing these flashes in both eyes at the same time, it is likely caused by either severe head trauma, which resulted in damage to both of your retinas, or more likely by some form of ophthalmic migraine.

Aside: as someone who has had about 12 of these type of migraines, with the extreme headache directly following about 15-ish minutes of flashes where you can barely see in between the flashes, I can say, it’s like getting kicked in the balls continually for about 3 hours or so, only the pain is in your head instead of balls and abdomen. This is all followed by your eyes having a dull ache for a few days. You will also have major pain in your eyes and possible recurrence of the migraine, if you decide to not wear sunglasses at all times during the few days following this event; including wearing the sunglasses inside where people will inevitably think you are a douche for doing so. 😉

About 50% of all people will have a vitreous detachment by the time they turn 80.

If you have had a vitreous detachment and you’ve experienced light flashes with that, you have about a 15% chance of developing a retinal tear. From there, you have about a 50% chance of having your retina eventually become fully detached from the back of your eye.

Nearsighted people have a much higher chance of experiencing vitreous detachments due to their often elongated eye shape.

Surgeries do exist for getting rid of eye floaters, if they seriously hamper your vision. This is typically done by replacing the gel-like substance in your eye with a saline liquid.

When your retina is in the process of detaching, you will often see small dots all over the place. What is happening here is that blood is being leaked into the vitreous and those dots are your visual perception of that blood in your eye.

Fun Link:

Check out this optical illusion for another example of your brain tuning something out based on it being fixed relative to motion; for best affect, once the dots disappear, without looking away, press the stop button; they’ll reappear; press the button again to restart the motion and they’ll disappear instantly.

212 comments

“Oh squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you there…lurking on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you do you return to the center of my eye? Oh squiggly line…it’s alright. You are forgiven.” -Stewie Griffin

Very interesting article. I also would like to know if someone has seen little black and white circles which kinda look like aims. It looks like an alternating series of circles, for example an outer white circle, a black one in it and a white circle in the middle. There are generally three or four circles with alternating colors in varying size. I mostly see them when my glasses are wet for example from rain falling on them. They behave in the same way as the eye floaters moving away when you try to look at them and appear when looking at a bright object, the sky or some kind of a light.

I have been seeing white bubbles as I call them for 30 years. Black dots white dots. Zig zag s when I am at the beach on a sunny day when I look at the sky.
When I look at bright light I see large blobs which cover people’s faces. I look at a person’s face and there nose may dissappear. Or the mouth or chin . Depending where I am looking. I suffer with optic migraines also. With aura. I have just been diagnosed with macular degeneration. I am wondering if it could all be connected. Pauline Liverpool.

I see more than floaters. Floaters are those that move slowly and can be odd-shaped.

I see cells moving along constantly… and I saw those while I was a young child [while looking at the sky]. Those cells come from the edge of my vision, move across the whole field, and exit on the other side. They do change direction here and there. Very much like blood flow to me…

What you are describing is blue field entoptic phenomenon or Scheerer’s phenomenon which many eye doctors mistakenly claim is floaters. The capillaries mostly contain red blood cells which travel through the retinal capillaries without being seen because as described the brain tunes them out. However a white blood cell is bigger than a red blood cell and as it is pushed through the capillary the brain will recognize the change and you will perceive the white blood cell as a squiggly because the capillaries are squiggly. The reason you see them mostly when looking at the blue sky is because the white blood cells do not absorb blue light.

I am an eye doctor. Don’t worry about longstanding floaters – everyone has them. They are most obvious on a sunny day when looking up at blue sky.
New onset floaters should be examined by an eye specialist, especially when associated with flashes of light, but most of these will be OK.
dont panic!

I agree kt because I have suffered from floaters since I was a lad and my Eye Doctor said it was normal and I had nothing to worry about. Over the last few years the floaters have got worse and I have now started to see stars when I brush my teeth or when I cough hard regularly. I haven’t seen an ED for over 10 years and think this is a sign my eyes are getting worse or I possibly need surgery?

I’ve always wondered about these; I’ve had them since I was in middle or elementary school. I have been to the eye doctor since then…I have astigmatism and needed glasses for a few years in elementary school.

wow i thought i was the only one with these things! i never knew what to call them (those things that i see when im looking at something bright and it always moves away when i try to look at it….?) so i couldnt google it. very interesting! and scary actually… now i’m afraid that my eyes just suck.

I have had these since I was in Grade 8, I’m in 9 now and I am starting to have those flashes. I’m going to see my eye doctor soon. Also I am nearsighted so I kind of got a little worried when I read this. Hopefully it can be resolved easily an painlessly. Great article an thanks!

I remember seeing large floaters since I was 5 years old. That was 40 years ago and now several floaters in my right eye are extremely distracting. Many are very large, and two of the large ones are quite opaque. I am constantly twitching my eye just to read the computer screen, especially on pages with white backgrounds. ;-P

Thanks for mentioning how surgery is available. All of my eye doctors have said nothing can be done, that I should live with it; but of course I’ve read about lasers and enzyme injections and vitrectomies.

I read this article thinking it would be another opinion on this phenomenon but it turned out very interesting. The one thing that caught me was the piece where it says “children and teens almost never get it.” This is scary because I have some myself and I am only sixteen. I also have type one diabetes, though I went to the eye doctor for my six-month check up and asked him if it was related to my illness and he replied “no, floaters are common.” I disagree myself for I have never had such an annoyance in my sight like this one. I wish there was a way to rid this from my vision without surgery. :S

About half a year ago I started getting three floaters that have been consistent ever since. Now that Im sure of what they are, Id like to know if this means my eyesight is deteriorating. The last time my eyes were checked I was a 20/10 [and very proud]. Lately Ive been dying my hair, in total about 4 or 5 times. Ive heard this can weaken your eyesight, and I wanted to know if thats true. Is there something wrong with my eyesight? If so, is there anything I can do to prevent further deterioration? Im in my teens and I really dont want my eyes to be compromised. Please reply to my email(:

Im 13 years old and i have these black floaters. I am extremley scared by this and I have been crying myself to sleep constantly worrying about them. I am scared that my floaters wwill become unbearable and i just cant wait till nighttime so that I can go to sleep and forget about them, Is there any help out there for me? I have been to my opticians and she said there is nothing I can do and to just live with it, but i cant!! please help me i cant live like this anymore! 🙁

I did enjoy these floating floaters when i was napping on the summer afternoons with eyes half-closed. Now my sight is reduced because of long time of reading and watching,and i selom see them these days.hope Let me smash the computer and go napping under apple trees back in my hometown..floaters ,i miss you .

I have seen these once in a while since I was pretty young, probably around 6, but I wouldn’t remember much before that(I’m just 15 now). Besides that though my vision is fine even though the rest of my family has glasses.

ok………. kinda freaking out right now as i get flashes whenever i go to sleep and i get really bad migraines that pain killers dont cure, i been for an eye test and they said my eyes were fine ??????????? could they be wrong??

Very interesting article, but I have been experiencing eye floaters since I was about 7 or 8 years old. So I must be one of the rare people. I have never really worried about floaters, except for lately; they are starting to get worse. I know it’s time to see my eye dr and I may have to bring all of this up.

I’ve often wondered about these; I’ve had them since I was in middle or elementary school. I have been to the eye doctor since then…I have astigmatism and required glasses for several years in elementary school.

First: Thousand thanks for publishing this article! It is my first time ever to read about this subject and so well researched article also! Greatly appreaciated!

I agree with Toby and Lydia. And thanks to the eye doctor telling us not to panic 🙂
I have had eye floaters since I was 7-8 and I am 46 now. When I was 25 I went to an eyedoctor asking about it, and he told me that nothing could be done and that I better get used to them. He also told me that I should wear sunglasses in order not to see them and to protect my eyes from getting worse. He told me it might very gradually get a little worse, but that it was not a serious problem.
I always thought it was caused from looking at the sun when I was a kid and especially from looking at the fixed light that came from using magnifying glass in order to burn words into wood – which I loved when I was 8-12 yo.

When I think of them they get worse. So while reading this article and every comment, I had a lot of them flying around. It has gotten a bit worse over the years, and sometimes when I read webpages with white background on my computer I have to move my head to get the floater out of the way so that I can see the words with out disturbance. Not that I got blind at all. If I take a test I see very well actually, and I see better than most of my family of which few need glasses.
Most annoying is when it happens (rarely!) that the floaters kind of join together and look like a flying insect and quickly move from one side of the vision across to the other, … I instinctly believe it is a fly and try to get them away with my hand, and other people around look at my like I am crazy.
I often wear sunglasses, and some people ask my why. I never knew what to explain and thought I was almost alone in the world. Thanks to this very very well written article and great collected information, I now know that I am not alone. I did not know what to call them either. I will save this article on my computer so that I can study this even more.
I hope that the article and my comments will help enlighten some other people with this problem. You may contact me on my website about this if you like.

These eye floaters almost never appear at teenagers, but I’ve been seeing them since I was sixteen, i’m seventeen now and am still seeing them. Not alot, just a few. would that be reason enough to see a doctor? anyway I thought it was normal till I saw this article. It scares me though, I love my eyes very much x)
Oh what to do without them

Floaters are HORRIBLE! I got a big one with a big cobweb, On the 8th day in the afternoon, I saw it suddenly reduced by 75%. It dissolved enough to give me a great sense of relief. A month later I still have it but it is more tolerable. I have another one. Just notice it because I was ‘searching’ for anything suspicious and found it. It was almost invisible… All my doctors (optic ophtalmologists) say I am fine and have 20/20 vision. Relax… wait a little while. Pray.. and pray… try to sleep as much as you can and enjoy more evening activities when the floaters are not so intruding. I am still praying and thankful it is not anything worse. ;).

I don’t know if it’s me or not, but i can’t seem to read when i have eye floaters. I think ive had them my whole life, because i used to actually play with them… being a kid and being bored you can find anything to do. Sometimes i get so many of them, or something, they get thicker, i dunno, and its actually harder to read stuff. I was trying to do some testing on the computers and i couldn’t read the words because the ‘Eye Floaters’ were my vision’s way. Its very annoying, and i dont know if its a health problem or not, can someone help me?

I’ve had them since I was 14. The fact is they do exist. And they can be caused by serious things. But they can also be harmless. What do you do?? The only thing you can is go see a eye doctor and get your eyes dialated. They check out your retina. THEN you go back every 6 months – 1 yr depending on your Dr recommendation. Because he needs to see OVER time if there is deterioration…. Your insurances will cover it as it is a medical problem not just a check up. I’m just that unlucky person with floaters and nothing has yet indicated worse.

If you ever see the flashes or everytime you get a new one they suggest seeing the Dr. its a good idea but you need to build a history with a Dr. just looking at it once tells him if somethings wrong or bad but looking at it over time helps him to make sure its not starting to tear etc…

ALSO, I was just informed that having severe astigmatisms (like me) can make floaters more Visible. Why???? because astimatisms have to do with the light bending on your eye. Everyone has floaters to a degree, but most people hardly notice them unless looking for it.So if you have severe astigmatisms like me but don’t wear your glasses of contacts like me. You should try doing that and see if it helps make them little less annoying. My astigmatism is so bad in my left eye its as much the ratio is as bad as my prescription. and the left eye is the one I see the floaters the most. With the newer toric contacts I’ve been less annoyed by the floaters. Just need those yearly checkups.

does any one else play with there floaters, like try to concentrate on them and when you do you can move it around and if you move your eye back and forth and then stop it floats of somewhere? also i have partial heterochromia in the eye that i can see the floaters in, i havent always had partial heterchromia it developed when i was about 11-12(not really sure someone noticed it, i havent seen an eye specialist about it 🙁 ) im 14 at the moment and worried about these floaters cause they could be connected to the heterochromia :S plz reply if you know anything

I have a bad habit about getting scared of what I read. I got prescribed glasses last year to help my migraines. After that, I started getting the flashes. Never had them before. They are not bad, and, Riley, I do play with them. I noticed that it makes them go away sometimes like they just fall out of existence……. only to return again like those turtles on super mario brothers. Thanks, this article scared the crap out of me at first but, then I realize that if something was bad wrong, we would all know it and just a trip to the eye doctor will solve the worries. Thanks!

Very neat article! I’ve had these as long as I can remember from my childhood. They cause me no harm, but I always thought it was something completely unique to my eyes. At times I can see them now, rarely, but more than anything they are entertaining.

I remember trying to ask my mum about them when I was little and she didn’t get what I was talking about.

It wasn’t until today’s Word of the day at Dictionary.com was musca volitans which means eye floater that I even know about them existing!

Iv had theese floters since a was abour 15 woke up one morning wen i was hung over i always put it down to that . to much booze and also wen having a rare fag they seem to get worse. people say wen looling at the blue sky thay can see um . well i say come and love on england with all these dark clouds tou not bother you then . problem solved ….dont drink or smoke and Always live under a dark cloud x

wow this is crazy…its funny how i was watching family guy and stewie starts saying a poem about the squiggly line in his eye and i immediately realize he is describing what i have been seeing in my eye for a while now..im 18 and i have perfect vision which is the wierd part since im noticing it has to do with aging and its pretty common in people with bad vision(thats what i think; i’m not aiming to offend anyone) and well im glad i found this article, now i know what to call it and now i know its not all in my head

I was at work and i kept swapping at nets, which wasn’t there because i went to a different area at work and the nets(floaters) follwed me. Then i had a series of floaters to appear in ribbon form which scared me. I also have one weepy eyes when i wear my glasses. Now that I know im not losing my mind (and now my eyesite) i will be making an appt. with my eye dr asap

Actually, I don’t remember my vision without this crap, so I got used to it and don’t pay much attention. The real problem is i’m only 17 and my sightseeing is bad. Anyway, I’ll keep it. We’ll break through! Hold on and be healthy! Cheers!

Stress, anxiety, and migraines also cause eye floaters. Eye infection is another possibility.

Computer eyestrain and white bright backgrounds produce eye floaters.

Having a retina exam performed is intense. You’ll feel like you’re tearing or detaching your retina during the exam.

You really have to evaluate all your symptoms. There is likely a source to the eye floaters.

Physicians are known to be wrong many times. They will misdiagnose patients, thus the patient trusts the advice. This medical advice can cost cause them serious health issues.

My father almost lost his leg due to physicians telling him not to worry. They told him it’s related to diabetes. Luckily, my best friends brother, who is a physician, diagnosed him a year later with PAD. Othwerwise, he would have lost his leg. Hence, my dad underwent the vein and artery reconstruction to repair the blood flow in the leg.

Diabetes is a terrible disease. His eye sight is diminishing. I never asked him whether he has eye floaters.

In my opinion, if you experience serious eye floaters along with other symptoms, make an appointment to see your physician to discuss possible tests.

If you never experienced these eye floaters and now they are showing up more frequently, you have to determine the source.

The ‘normal’ occurence is an excuse to not investigate further. Eye floaters can be a stress related issue as well. You can have a possible retina problem. It can be due to light exposure when moving to dark to light. Lighted white backgrounds can induce eye floaters.

Think about the overall symptoms. Could there be more going on? Underlying health issues? Many conditions can cause eye floaters. The most severe is a retina detachment. Don’t always trust that it is normal and to live with it.

Fibromyalgia (which is nothing more and nothing less than muscle pain) can NOT cause floaters. Stress, anxiety, and migraines can NOT cause eye floaters. Eye infections can NOT cause floaters. Computer eyestrain and white bright backgrounds can NOT cause eye floaters. Your father’s experience proves NOTHING. Stop spreading misinformation (also known as B.S.)

Bob- Fibromyalgia is nothing more and nothing less than muscle pain??? Believe me it is a lot more and then some! I suffer greatly from fibromyalgia, It can affect your vision as in blurriness and sensitivity to light- tho eye floaters, which I also have, are exactly what the Eye Doctor posted above, I’ve been to the opticians who referred me to the eye clinic and my retinas were checked I also was suffering from white flashes in the corners of both eyes which he said would pass and it has- it is all down to a break up in the vitreous jelly like fluid which surrounds the retina 🙂

ahhhhhhhhhh im a welder my right eye have a whores floaters i have to fly’s and 1 web grrrrr and in to my left eye i have 1 web at the first time i found that i have this i though its just a smoke or wat ever but when i search via google im happy why???
bcoz i just not only the one who have this spider webs

In 2007 I started seeing floaters and flashlights in my left eye, I went to the doctor for a check up and he told me I have degeneration of the vitrius ( gel like that fills the eye) it was detaching from the back of my eye and was tugging my retina causing a horseshoe shape tear on it; they treated my eye with LASER ( it is painless) and fixed it, the floaters and flashes never went away but I only notice them when I look at a bright screen or white wall. Every year I go to the doctor for a check up. I am nearsighted and probably that is the reason that I have this problem.
I hope this post helps other people that has the same problem that me to go to the doctor as soon as possible.

I’m 14 years old, and I think I may have floaters in my eyes. Yet, there’s been another strange phenomenon happening in my eyes my entire life. It looks as if the world is statical, like on a television, and it never goes away, even when I wear my glasses,(For distance). Is something wrong with my eyes???? Please help me!!!!

Liz – what you are describing is a eye issue called Visual Snow. For some people it just comes and goes, for other (like me) it is a permanent, persistent field of static in your vision. I have had this my entire life (some people get it later on and it comes and goes). basically, my vision has a constant field of multi-colored static in it. even if you close your eyes, you will see this static. very little is known about the phenomenon, and sadly, alot of medical professionals refuse to admit it even exists. (I was told I was lieing about it when I was a child). Other then the static itself though, it doesn’t actually affect your vision. You may need to start to come to terms with the fact that you will have this your entire life. People with Visual Snow also tend to have vertigo and migraines… do a little research on Visual Snow, maybe it will help you understand whats going on with your vision.

Hi Liz. Have you ever suffered a concussion? That means having banged your head very hard against something solid? I have heard of hockey players describing such a thing after a head injury.. having crashed into someone or something else or fallen on a hard surface with their head hitting it.

I’m 14 too and have had floaters for years, but I only recently heard about this retina detachment thing – it’s quite scary 🙁 should I expect it to happen?? Or is it quite rare? Also I only start to see my floaters when I concentrate on them so I guess they’re not that serious. I have something similar to Liz, when I look at a clear sky or blank screen etc, I can see almost a static of tiny dots. I told my optician about the floaters a few years ago, he said it was fine I should just ignore them, then I wouldn’t see them (basically he didn’t care 🙂 )

When it comes to entoptic phenomenons Ive had pretty much all of them. Those static of tiny dots is called blue field entoptic phenomenon and what your seeing is actually the white blood cells moving through your blood vessels. I have floaters also and have got used to them. Was worrisome at first but now i don’t even notice them much. I also get ocular migraines like twice a year which pretty much leaves me half blind for 10 minutes. Its like a squiggly line that pulses in my vision. I also get an array of different colors when i close my eyes (purples and greens mostly) and at night i get sort of strobe light effect when i close my eyes which goes away after a bit. XD Always get yours eye checked though just in case. It will make you feel better also knowing whats up.

Im only 17 and i have toxoplasmosis, but then the floaters in my eye changed i started seeing more of them so i went to see my doctor and he said that the gel as you get older breaks away and its going to happen to me sooner since i have toxoplasmsis but i was wonder if the gel breaks away from each other whats going to happen to me? will that make me see worse then i do now or will i be blind after that happens?

I’m 25 and I’ve had floaters since I was 17 and I dont notice them all that much anymore unless I want to see them. My doctor says because I have toxoplasmsis having floaters is normal because of the damage that was done to my eyes. Less I start to lose my vision I am not going to worry about it. If I do worry, I talk to my doctor or ask to see a specialist.

hi i am 44 i blind in my left eye.. my right eye i have glaucoma & floaters,, it i move my eye at all 4 or 5 floaters like a web across my eye the whole time.. cant look at the sky or bright walls, can be so f’##king frustration…..

I have just turned 15, have exams coming up and I am starting to notice these spots ( I think they are floaters), also I have been noticing different coloured patches, the ones that you get when you stare into the sun. When it starts I get a headache, I feel really dizzy, I can’t concentrate and I feel fatigued. The other day I nearly went home, my eyes went all itchy and the nurse just thought it was hay fever even though I have never had that In my life. My eyes have been randomly unfocusing aswell, ill just be looking at the whiteboard and it will unfocus. I have never had problems with short or long sighted ness, and have always been a very good reader/ had good eye sight. Should I be concerned ?

Hey! I have great news!
I also had the issue of eye floaters and they are a real neusance when you are trying to read something in small print. I have fixed the problem!
Here is what you need to do to have the eye floaters move out of your direct vision:

-move your eyes up really fast and then slowly lower them back down.
-repeat this a couple of times and see if you can still see the eye floaters.

What happens is you shift the eye floaters down in your eye so that you cant really see them anymore.

I’ve had eye floaters since I was 12, and being 26 now.. it’s been a while!

Recently I got a job working behind a computer all day long. This is especially annoying for all who have eye floaters, for we know that looking at bright surfaces illuminates the eye floaters all the more. About a week ago I discovered (on Windows 7 operating system) that if you press CTRL-ALT-DELETE, you will be taken to a menu with a set of options (Lock this Computer; Switch User; Log Off: etc). Down in the bottom left corner there is a button; click it! You will be given a number of options. The middle one says “See more contrast in colors (High Contrast). This turns everything BLACK! Check the box, hit Apply, then when you return to your desktop, EVERYTHING will be black with white letters. This makes the floaters all but disappear while looking at your monitor. I’ve been using it ever since the day I discovered it, and man has it helped!

Bonus tip: If you have Chrome [web browser], you can go to the Chrome store and download a plugin that will do the same thing in your browser 🙂 Just search High Contrast mode in the Chrome store

I am 41 years old now , I have had these floaters in my eyes since six years old . They worry me . I have been to the doctor so many times and the doctors brush it off like it’s nothing but I really worry now after reading up on this. What should I do to make sure I’m going to be okay?

Hi I’m 14 too and I get these “floater” when ever I look at bright things such as the sky on a sunny day or snow. I sometimes get swarms of them, TONS of linty swigglies moving about in my vision. The first time I noticed this I was snowboarding and I thought there was something in my contacts. But to my dismay it seems as though its my eye. The whole “Detachment” idea really scares me!! Also I get migraine head aches and they sometimes effect my eyesight in one of my eyes. Are my eyes going to detach themselves when I’m like 30? Am I completely screwed?! I didn’t even know this happened to other ppl!! Please help!!

@Philomena: Not at all. Eye floaters are common. While ocular migraines aren’t as common, they aren’t generally that big of a deal except for the fact that they are insanely painful. If you get ocular migraines, just make sure to wear good, dark 100% blocking UV/UB sunglasses when outside, particularly on sunny days. Polarized ones work best there (speaking from personal experience). On a sunny day, if I don’t wear such sunglasses outside at all times, if I’m out for more than an hour or two, an ocular migraine always follows. With the sunglasses, I’m fine. Don’t go cheapy on the sunglasses either. That’s just a recipe for migraines if your eyes are like mine. 🙂

im 17 and i get eye floaters quite a loat sometimes, and they appear in rather darkish sorts of shapes, and as much as i keep moving my eye about they dont seem to go away untill i start focusing on something else. at first i got really worried and thought that it might be my eyes starting to go blind, but i really dont know 🙁

im 18 and i see in my left eye a circle with a grey dot in the centre, ive had this for about a year and a half now and it wont go away and its driving me nuts, sometimes it multiplies and i can see more circles, i can only see them in the light, ive been to get my eyes tested but my vision is perfect, not sure what to do?

@Savannah: I think my mother had something similar, and it turned out that she had an eyelash that was growing downwards and touching er eyeball. She said it loked like a circle with a grey bit in the middle, so maybe you should check your eye for that?

Can floatering affects your sleep sometimes?. can it hinder you from catching sleep?i have floatering in my right eyes and once in a while, i cannot fall in sleep as normal i thought is something else, but could it be the floatering that is imparing my sleep.

i am 27 years of age and from past one month i observed the sometimes opaque and sometimes transparent dot in my vision. when i focus on the dot it escapes from the vision and always try to escape from the sight . can anybody tell me what is that and how it happens . infact this dot is not visible in my eye and my eye looks life fine, but the actual problem lies in the vision. this dot is quite visible in the bright background like on the white papers,painted walls etc. plz tell me how it cab be cured(.)

I first noticed eye floaters back in 1971 when I was just 5 years old. I remember this because it was on the way home after school in Grade 1, and after noticing the “floaters”, I tried pointing into the sky to them and asked Mum what they were. She said they carried telephone calls.

So for a fair whack of my childhood I thought that phone calls turned into little spots that flew across the sky to other phones, and I would play a game where I’d try make the spots go to a different place than they were naturally moving to by moving my eyes – my thinking other people doing this was what I thought caused wrong number calls.

It was only many years later, while reminiscing, I asked Mum why she had told me that, and it turned out that she thought I had been pointing at the overhead telephone wires, not realising that I had actually been trying to point at something inside my own eyes!

Lol that’s funny… you were causing wrong calls with your super powers 🙂
I am 29 now and I remember seeing these eye floaters since I was very young. My eye floaters look like worms… quite a few of them…and many dots…argg worms and worm shytts in my eyes… 🙁
Go away!

i m seeing dots in front of my both eyes , what is the solution for it , Is there any treatment through medicines ? Please tell me know I shall be very thankful to you for this act of kindness
or i will have to pass through laser operation? reply must

I think this article was wrong about children not having floaters or that they are reason to worry.i had them since i was like 10 at the very least, maybe younger. so have many of the commenters.. Bad information. Don’t let this article scare you. I think floaters are likely quite normal.

About 6 months ago I had floaters removed from my left eye. The results were great. The method used was fluid replacement. The only side effect from this method is that it will accelerate the growth of cataracts.
Was getting ready to have my other eye done, when I just developed Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD) in the already corrected eye. Started with flashs and then left with vision of many floaters, most of which are a sea or to better discribe it, a school of dots like never seen before. Not now sure of the connection and if it will get any worse, better, corrective or not, surgery on second is on hold.

I’ve been dealing with floaters for many years. The best solution for reading is to set your computer background to dark blue and the fonts to light blue,like the screen on a Commodore 64…lol…yeah It’s been that long. it pretty much makes the floater invisible….

I’ve observed “floaters” in my eye since I was a child. As an adult I assumed they were particles of matter on the outside of my eye. Interesting that the article suggests this is a phenomena more related to older subjects.

Thanks for this article. I have had these floaters since I was a child. I am 32 now, and my eye-sight is still good. I use reading glasses to prevent eye-strain, and my left lens is slightly correcting. I use a computer at work all day. I have had an eye test about 6 months ago and the same lenses that I have been using for the past 5 years are still good for me now. Also, since I was a child, when looking at blue sky, I can see what looks like how one would imagine gas or air molecules to look. Countless small feint dots moving very fast. This has also not gotten worse in the last 20 to 25 years. I very rarely notice these visual artifacts, unless I look for them. I am now very thankful that they are not impeding my life or job, and that my eyes are still good.

Wow this is the 1st time that I can really truly relate with someone type of floters closest to my condition. I have floaters for the last 25 years, I can deal with the moving parts, but the worst part for me is looking at the sky when I driving, all I see is this fuzzy field full of tiny moving thing.. I hate it, sometimes I even get sick since I drive long distances for my daily duties, really annoying. I wish it could be an easy solution for this condition !!!
I would anything to get rid of the gel & the floaters …
Thanks for all the opinions & responses … It really helps.

Do NOT have them removed. It involves the removal of the vetrous gel in the eye. I had it done and in few months had a detached retina……twice. Was led to think that no big deal and that even though all surgery has risks, Cataracts was my biggest concern. The surgeon did about as good on the retina as I now have double vision, very blurry with little to no use of the eye. Wish I had my floaters back!

Thanks for your response Brad. Sorry to hear that the surgery didn’t go well. I hope that one day that they come up with a better solution to get rid of these annoying floaters. I talked to my doctor about them but he was blunt and said he wouldn’t do it unless it was at the point to where I couldn’t see. Does anybody know of any nutritional ways to keep the eyes healthy?

I wonder if anyone has had a successful treatment, I mean the floaters disappearing totally???? Please give some feedback so we can know what to expect from surgery or laser treatment!!! Floaters in the eye is a misery…

I personally would not have any treatment that is claiming to “fix” eye floaters or visual snow. I have never seen or read of any successful treatment of either of these issues. I feel like you will be more likely to cause yourself some permanent damage and end up worse then before.
I have a fairly intense version of visual snow, that I was born with. I would not even consider any eye surgery to “fix” my vision, unless I could get firsthand account from other sufferers that directly told me they were actually cured. These issues are completely subjective, and no one but you can “see” what your field of vision is and judge improvements.
Occasional eye floaters is nothing compared to living with a full field of static in your vision since birth. or worse, ending up partially blind trying to fix your vision.

I have yet to talk to anyone since mine that has had good luck with theirs. It seems that it’s like a ticking time bomb. I had a retina detachment less than 6 mo later.
Again I stress do your homework and get 2 or three opinions.
Do what you feel is right for you but I strongly recommend living with this. I’m living with the alternative and it’s a hell of a lot worse.

Thanks for the continued warnings to people Brad. Id hate for someone to lose vision trying to fix something that isn’t really that bad, at least not as compared to massive static in your vision, or partial or complete blindness.
It’s sad, but there is very little awareness of these issues and I think people often get bad/unneeded treatments done by eye docs that don’t believe in visual snow and eye floaters. and yes, there are a lot of these doctors out there…

I am only 18, I have had floaters since I was 17.
They are very annoying and really effecting my life, I am a programmer and have to look at white screens, this causes me to see the floaters and thus i cannot focus. I am wondering if eye floaters have any correlation with masturbation; I have read an article that it may. thank you.

I’ve seen many articles about this and many images of floaters but I became so confused because of my floaters i can see in my eye. I can see only one but it was so big or they are many just holding each other and its different than the picture shown above. It started many months ago and it affects my life. Please help me.

To all ;
I am NOT a eye doctor by any means, but after reading all these posts I’m amazed by what the general public knows & how much they don’t know.
I’m not going to bore you, but please people you only ONE set of eyes.
They don’t grow back or in as teeth do, so how come in most of the srticles I read here do people say the following ;
I’m going to wait a while to see if my problem goes away or gets better,
I’ll wait until someone post about the problem I’m having, and then I’ll know
how to treat it.
I’ve had this problem for at least 10 or more years and it’s really not that bad .
I don’t have the money or time to try and take care of my problem. Maybe it will
go away soon.
This is just a small sampling of what I’ve read tonight.
ARE ALL YOU PEOPLE CRAZY, WHY DO YOU WANT TO RISK THE LOSS OF YOUR SIGHT ??
DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU WOULD ENJOY BEING BLIND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE ???
WAKE UP AND GO TO A DOCTOR, A BOARD OF HEALTH, AN ER AT A HOSPITAL,
OR TO A REAL EYE DOCTOR BEFORE YOU HAVE TO PAY BIG MONEY FOR A SEEING DOG THAT WILL HAVE TO BE BY YOUR SIDE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE !!!!
I JUST

I started getting floaters shortly before turning 22 in 2013. I had an eye exam in Feb of that year and my check-up is coming up in ten days. I started off with dark and grey floaters in my right eye. Some of those floaters are now less visible, but now I have floaters in my left eye as well. Because of this I’m still putting off driving school due to the frustration of seeing a bunch of crap fly all over my vision. Flashes? Had them before the first exam and informed my optometrist about them but she said everything looked okay. I don’t get them all the time, it usually happens when I get up fast and walk to another room. I’ll notice a tiny white flash in my peripheral vision as I’m walking by.

After the last exam I was told that if it ever seemed like someone was drawing a curtain over my vision to seek medical attention immediately. Still hasn’t happened.

Just a follow up, she found a slight astigmatism in my left eye but basically informed me my eyes were nearly as healthy as last time. She gave me a prescription slip for glasses should I choose to buy some in case I want to reduce the stress of them.

i got floaters after cataract surgery at 53
severe nearsighted found out its a common side effect of the surgery. actually interferes with the left eye focus normal vision is ok but focus on traffic signs letters is blurry on that eye but the conventional fix is a very serious op. and lasar is still considered experimental. but on onset other than a minor one and any other symptoms you need to see a retina specialist, not a optometrist or even a optomologist for a full workup since a retina detachment can be blinding.

Hi, enjoyed your article. I was in a bad car wreck, banged my head and received two whip lashes due to the twirling of my car.

I had a headache for days and 10 days after the wreck, I had really sharp pains in my temple/eye along with several large light flashes. The next morning I probably had 100 tiny black dots floating in my eye which within 3 days starting fading a little bit. Now it is 30 days from the wreck and I still have black and larger grey dots as well as pain.

I did go to an eye specialist and there are no tears or detachments. (Senile nuclear sclerosis and vitreous degeneration). I am 68 years old and very healthy. In your opinion – could my floaters be caused or either triggered by the car accident? Thanks – G Gann

Thanks for this article and even more thanks to everyone who has commented on it over the years!

I’ve had floaters now for about 15 years. I first noticed them when I was 22. They HAVE gotten worse over the years. A big stringy one has appeared in my right eye in the last year and it is very distracting. I recognize it as a piece that used to be attached to my eye lining on one end and after all this time it has finally freed itself. Lucky me!

I have severe astigmatism so I am definitely at risk for retinal detachment. Floaters go hand-in-hand with astigmatism which is itself a fairly common affliction. Eye doctors typically attribute astigmatism to genetic causes but the actual cause is unknown.

My doctor and optical technician have recently warned me that environmental factors can worsen the floater condition. I am supposed to avoid any pressure on the head which would include activities such as bungie jumping, combat sports and excessive heavy lifting (i.e. lifting weights in the gym). Not sure about the scientific basis behind these recommendations but the reasoning is sound enough and I really don’t want to take any more chances.

In a fit of madness I did stare at the sun for an extended period when I was 13. I don’t even know why, I was a neurotic kid and was probably stressed about something trivial. I don’t believe this was a factor to the floaters in my eye as I got them nearly 10 years later but I can’t imagine it did anything beneficial. And I was lucky to come away without a scarred cornea or other serious complications from sun exposure.

But since our medical knowledge is always evolving, we can never truly know, so I sometimes wonder: what if? I guess the moral of the story is to not take your eyes for granted and to book regular check-ups with your optometrist. Floaters are a huge downer on quality of life but to have to worsen drastically is probably a sign of impending retinal detachment. The surgery to correct this is not pleasant. A friend’s ex went through the procedure in her twenties. I imagine if I ever get to that point I will beg the specialist operating on me to drain out all and any floaters while he’s “in there”. 🙂

I appreciate all of the comments made on this page, from young and old alike. I have recently developed “floaters” and “cobwebs” in my left eye. I had an issue in the past with a retinal vein occlusion, so I made an appointment with a retinal specialist who assured me that my retina was fine, and it had nothing to do with the occlusion. I keep telling myself that as I see more “cobwebs” in the bright daylight. Right before I developed Phil (my floater), I had done some heavy lifting that I am supposed to avoid since the occlusion. I noticed three distinct pounding sounds in my left ear, which I thought was weird at the time, but now I associate it with these floaters. In light of that happening, I agree with Floaterman’s eye doctor that heavy lifting can have an effect on the presence of floaters. Gale Gann, I have to tell you that the retinal specialist that I saw also said it was natural vitreous degeneration, i.e., getting older. I am about to turn 63, wow, hard to see that in print, and that this was a part of the aging process. Great!

I began seeing eye floaters at the age of 5, as rare as that may seem. I remember waking up in the middle of night, and not being able to tell whether I was awake or not. My dream was so realistic, and, when I opened my eyes, it was still there. All around me, I saw millions of tiny particles. Being a little kid, I called them “bugs.” I just started screaming and freaking out, and my family looked at me like I was crazy. It is now nearly 10 years later, and I still see those microscopic particles crawling around. It bothers me so much, because I see them both in bright and dark lightings. They’re even worse if the room is dark.
My eyes are constantly in pain, and, all my life, I’ve reported getting headaches and blurred vision. Am I at risk for going blind?? It’s gone on for so long, and so far I seem fine. My grandmother said I should go see a doctor, but my mother hates them and I don’t think we even have insurance. My eyes burn… I’m just going to take some ibuprofen and go to sleep (hopefully I can sleep).

I’m 27 years old, had vitrectomy done on both eyes because of floaters. It was very distracting to have them, but now it’s so much better. I still have some random dots but nowhere as much as before. I think I have “normal” people floaters now.

I’ve had crap loads of floaters since I was 16. I went to several ophthalmologists and they all said I had healthy eyes and told me to ignore the floating debris. We don’t *actually* know how rare (or common) floaters of any type are in children and teenagers because there is virtually no research on the topic. It is often assumed that teenagers with myopia are more likely to get them because of the elongated shape of the eye. I have them in my left eye and that eye is not myopic. Other causes have been said to be trauma and inflammation that causes the vitreous to “degenerate”. When I got floaters at 16 I started one of the very few advocacy sites on the internet which became very popular (but has since come offline). Many years later it is nice to see that while it is still not taken very seriously by doctors, many more are aware of the issue.

Advocacy? Of what? Acknowledging a normal and common phenomenon? Not taken seriously by doctors because, maybe, just perhaps, they know that it’s neither a problem nor particularly meaningful?

I’m over 50, I’ve seen floaters since I was in grade school although I didn’t learn what they were called until I was in my 20s or 30s. They are simply there, they don’t do anything. This knowledge has been available if not completely widespread for several decades at least and I am struggling to understand what you are referring to as an “issue”.

Pretty asinine comment. People are rising damaging their eyes and vision through risky procedures to get this debris out of their vision.

It’s not normal or enjoyable to be a teen or adult, and have a lot of floaters. To look at a book page and see dark crap floating every which way by reading each line. It causes depression and anger for many. People would like clear vision, and many are not 65 or 70+ years old, with the NORMAL floaters that occur from natural aging. Floaters young people get are different. They do not drop to the bottom of your vision over time, they sit in place and essentially float there. There typically near the retina making it always central in your vision.

There is very little care for this issue or attempts to resolve this issue without severe invasive procedures. Some people would like this looked into for those who still have 50-60 years of life still and whose floaters continue to get worse and worse.

They don’t do anything? Yeah, keep telling yourself that. When you get so many they’re literally altering your vision and causing depression, let us know how they don’t do anything. These idiot doctors don’t even know there’s a difference between floaters in young people, and those who are 60+ with natural aging to the eye. Yeah, they’re real informed.

You are a sad, angry person. Most people have floaters. Most people do not have any problems with them at all.

If you have so many floaters, or they are of such a size and opacity that they interfere with your vision, then yes you have a real problem, but you would still be an outlier, and suffering from a very rare issue.

The OP that I was responding to SAID that his eye doctor told him his eyes were healthy. The OP NEVER said that the floaters were causing him ANY problems. He simply stated he had them and then ranted paranoidly about how there was insufficient study of the issue. If it doesn’t cause a problem, why the hell does it matter?

Once again, in case it went over your head the first time I said it, MOST people have floaters, and for MOST people they pose absolutely NO problem at all.

Just because someone may have a problem is no reason to expect everyone else to panic and cry in fear over the issue.

And you’re an ignorant human being that thinks floaters occurring of natural aging, that sink to the bottom of ones eyes, are relevant to those of those occurring in teens and young adults. There has been little to no research on this issue for younger patients or the cause. The cause is understood for older patients, as the gel starts to change, that is different. Most ophthalmologist ignorantly tell young patients they will “sink to the bottom” and become less intrusive. Laughable.

The OP clearly said “We don’t *actually* know how rare (or common) floaters of any type are in children and teenagers because there is virtually no research on the topic.” and you proceeded with an asinine comment of why is there need of advocacy on “common phenomenon”. Education alert, it’s not a normal function for young patients. The OP never said it didn’t bother him, and it can be interfered it was an issue for him by his own comment. Try reading it.

Eye floaters that stick in place and never “sink”, are not the same as what older people get. Google online “young with eye floaters”. There’s a lot of people having issues with this problem.

MOST OLDER people, have floaters because it’s NORMAL when the eye changes at an older age. THESE FLOATERS ARE NOT THE SAME as younger patients. A brief overview of this subject will SHOW YOU THIS. I’m sure living 50+ years without floaters, and finally getting a few you only see staring at a blue sky is super cool and not a problem. Floaters that sink to bottom of your eye generally are not, your brain ignores it.

The lack of “CAUSE” for why younger patients are developing it, is important, as to STOP IT from progressing.

I’m sure you tell young people with loud tinnitus in their ears, “oh it’s just normal, many older people get it a slight degree, it’s from damage of noise, who cares!”

Since April of 2014 I have fixed myself. No more floaters or vertical white flashes. I have the circular jagged white rings under control (most difficult to control)

How did I do it? Researched the internet and found wheat allergy is the number one allergy worldwide. I now control what type of foods I eat and wheat or wheat process is in the vast majority of foods. I make one tiny mistake and it comes back. I’ll take one or two glucose 4 gram tablets and in 15 minutes its gone.

I can also double vision see wavy lines glare trail but I don’t what is trail actually.n I can see rainbow patches like in my vision an when I try to look them they disappears floaters n they are cobweb.doctor told double vision caused because itchiness inside my eye

I can also double vision see wavy lines glare trail but I don’t what istrail actually.n I can see rainbow patches like in my vision an when I try to look them they disappears floaters n they are cobweb.doctor told double vision caused because itchiness inside my eye

I’ve had a floater in my left eye for over a year. Went to the ophthalmologist and he said the retina was fine. I developed another in my right eye two months ago. Yesterday I slipped on the ice while unloading my snowmobiles and slapped the back of my head hard against the ice. Immediately I saw a large glob/string of something which looked like dirty oil running vertically over much my vision in my right eye. A bit scary. I continued on with my friend snowmobiling for the day and the dirty glob broke up into a couple of smaller floaters and most of my vision in that eye had tiny translucent spots like water vapor on glass. It’s more resolved today. Of course the huge fear is that you will have retina detachment and lose your vision. I’m making another appointment with the ophthalmologist today to take a look.

I used to spend some time lying on the sidewalk with friends, and we would see these things…. and on a bright sunny day, we would also little popping random dots … fun times. Of course, had no idea what it was.. what’s of fun if you knew it right ?

Recently, I was eating out and I began seeing a dark spot occasionally zoom across my field of vision; not directly in the middle, but zooming away as I turned my gaze to the side. At first, I thought it was a flying insect! My elderly wise man told me it was a floater, but I thought floaters did just that … float. My internet search seemed to support my assumption, but he insists he has fast-moving “floaters.” Called my ophthalmologist office and the girl there wasn’t sure. So, do these quick movers have another name, because the definition of floater does not seem to apply…?

I have had floaters since age 8 at least that’s when I first noticed them looking into a microscope. The brightness highlighted them. I now have much more but some are the same as when first saw them. However I disagree about where in the eye they are located. The reason is that the images are all the right way up as they sink down or move same way as your eye. As the brain inverts the image from the eye so we see things the right way up then if floaters are shadow on retina we should see inverted image. Also we see magnified image so I think they live in front of the lens but within the focal length. This produces a magnified errect virtual image which I think is what we see

I once had an Ophthalmologist ask me if I was currently taking [a certain prescription hart arrhythmia medication]. When I replied in the affirmative and asked “why?”, he replied “”Because I can see it in your eyes”. I had noticed that I had floaters but had no idea they were connected to the medication. The Doc advised me that some of the drug would crystallize in my vitrious humor and form the floaters. My Cardiologist changed my medication and the floaters went away.

People wear sunglasses. Had floater surgery at 60. Was cool watching them take the little vacuum cleaner and suck out the floaters. Got glaucoma in the left eye. Now taking eyedrops $170 for a third of an ounce from US drugstore. Ordered medication from Canada shipped from Singapore for $17. Have the beginning of a cataract in the left eye. Will have surgery at some point to correct cataract and put a stint in the eye to correct the glaucoma.